Assessing Literacy Progress in English Learner Students

• In Event: Beyond the Homogeneous English Learner Classification: New Progress Analyses Using New, Multiple English Learner Subgroups

Abstract

Objectives: The objective was to build capacity in teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) to administer a computer-adaptive literacy assessment and to use results to inform instruction for non-English-speaking students in grades 3-5.

Perspective: English learners (ELs) are student who come from a home where a non-English language is spoken and who need additional academic support to access the mainstream curriculum. Slama (2014) suggests we reconceptualize language learning services as an ongoing system of support, with progress monitoring data translated to instructional adaptations.

Methods: The school district selected three schools to participate in the study—one with a Haitian-Creole-speaking population, one with a Spanish-speaking population and many recent immigrants, and one with many migrant families who mostly speak Spanish. Participating students were those in grades 3-5 at ESOL levels 1 and 2 whose parents returned positive consent. The district determines ESOL levels based on cut scores on the Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment (CELLA; ETS, 2005). There were 117 consented students in the beginning of the school year in 2014 and 102 remained in May, 2015.

Data sources: Project staff trained the ESOL teachers in grades 3-5 and school staff to administer the computer-adaptive literacy assessment developed by the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) from federal funds and provided free to the district. The assessment, called the FCRR Reading Assessment (FRA), consists of screening and diagnostic tasks in a K-2 and 3-12 system and is administered three times a year. Initially, ESOL 1 students were placed in Kindergarten tasks and ESOL 2 students in the grade 1/2 tasks. Students were promoted to the next set of grade-level tasks as they reached state-level (i.e., Florida) means and mastered the diagnostic tasks. After each assessment period, project staff conducted data chats with the ESOL teachers and school staff.
Results: By the end of the year, the 35 ESOL level 1 students who stayed in the Kindergarten assessment were above the state Kindergarten mean in vocabulary, on average. They approached the state Kindergarten mean in following directions, sentence comprehension, and phonological awareness. Although their letter-sound knowledge was below the state’s 25th percentile in the fall and winter, by the spring their word reading scores exceeded the state Kindergarten mean. By the end of the year, the 39 ESOL level 2 students approached the state’s Grade 2 mean on word reading and spelling but were below the state mean on vocabulary and following directions. By the spring assessment, 28 students had been promoted to the next assessment level based on their performance on screening and diagnostic tasks: 15 from the Kindergarten to Grade 2 system; 13 from the Grade 2 to the Grade 3-12 system. CELLA scores correlated significantly and moderately with FRA tasks.

Scientific significance: Computer-adaptive assessment is a useful tool to screen and monitor the literacy progress of non-English-speaking students if teachers are trained to administer the assessments themselves and coached in how to translate results to instruction.

Authors

• Barbara R. Foorman, Florida State University

• Anabel Espinosa, University of Miami

• Carla Jackson

• Yi-Chien Wu, National Central University